PRESS INFORMATION
The negotiations finalization and the swift conclusion of the EU’s Free Trade Agreement with Australia will be on the Romania’s priorities list during the Presidency of the European Union Council, Minister Ştefan-Radu Oprea informed the Australian parliamentary delegation led by Senator Ian Macdonald during the meeting on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, held at the headquarters of the Ministry for Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.
The talks between the Australian dignitary and the Romanian minister pointed out the opportunities the document will generate in terms of economic and trade relations between the two countries, and in creating a favorable framework for closer interaction between businesspeople in the two countries. The Romanian official reiterated the importance of the EU’s Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand from the point of view of Romania, both as a member state of the Union and in terms of the multilateralism it supports in international trade policies.
Ian Macdonald expressed the need for more effective communication within the business environments so as to increase and diversify trade between the two countries, and mentioned information technology, agricultural and food products as areas of interest for his country.
In turn, Minister Ştefan-Radu Oprea noted Romania’s interest in market access for information technology products, as well as other sectors complementary to the Australian economy. He also presented to the Australian delegation the advanced stage of preparation of the strategic projects Romania will launch on public-private partnership and invited the Australian party to consider the opportunity of engaging in this segment.
The Australian parliamentary delegation discussions agenda also covered topics related to the support programs the Ministry is conducting to boost entrepreneurship, as well as the measures the government of Romania implements to ensure the stability of the labor force, reduce unemployment and increase population’s purchasing power.
Over the past 5 years, Romanian-Australian trade has been steadily rising; 2017 Romanian exports reached the highest level of the last 10 years (USD 82.4 million). In the same year, the total bilateral trade was USD 120 million and the trade balance, amounting to USD 44.8 mil., is favorable to Romania. In the first half of 2018 situation follows the same trend, with slight increases. Total exchanges amounted to USD 65.7 mil., out of which 47.5 million Romanian exports and 18.2 million imports.
Ministry for Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Business
Press Office